Catching up and pulling ahead: Inside America’s 2025 China report

About this episode

The episode discusses the findings of the US–China Economic and Security Review Commission's 2025 report, highlighting China's advancements in technology and its implications for US policy.

For years, the conventional wisdom held that the United States retained a decisive lead over China in the technologies and industries that will define the 21st century.  The 2025 report of the US–China Economic and Security Review Commission to Congress challenges that view, and its conclusions make for sobering reading. Ahead of the Trump–Xi summit where trade and technology are on the table, the Commission finds that China has not only caught up with but in multiple sectors now leads advanced economies including the United States. From electric vehicles and solar panels to quantum computing pathways and pharmaceutical supply chains, Beijing’s combination of state direction, entrepreneurial competition, and sustained investment has produced results that Western policymakers are only beginning to reckon with. In this episode, the Lowy Institute's Richard McGregor speaks with Randy Schriver and Mike Kuiken — vice-chairs of the Commission — about what their report found and what it means. They discuss China’s model of directed innovation, the case for a consolidated US economic statecraft entity, the multiple “choke points” China…

People in this episode

Host: Richard McGregor

Guests: Randy Schriver, Mike Kuiken

Topics covered

• US-China relations
• technology competition
• economic statecraft
• military implications
• innovation
• trade policy

Keywords

• China report
• technology
• electric vehicles
• solar panels
• quantum computing
• pharmaceutical supply chains
• trade
• military
• Taiwan
• economic statecraft

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: US–China Economic and Security Review Commission

Places: United States, China, Taiwan, Pacific, Australia, Iran

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